


Peekaboo

by Jessistired



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:26:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26143321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jessistired/pseuds/Jessistired
Summary: Din takes his helmet off for his kid, plus a couple other happy moments.
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 163





	Peekaboo

Din had put it off long enough. Too long, in fact. He had good reason, or at least he thought he had. He never intended to keep the child for this long. Not that he ever had a clue of how he was going to get rid of him. 

Secretly he had been hoping for some kind saint to say, "I will take the kid, and care for him. You no longer have to worry." A ridiculously naive wish, but Din figured everyone had them. And it almost came true, in the form of Omera and her people. But he needed more than just caring. The child needed protection.

So Din would protect him, and care for him. They would become a clan, even more so a family. This was true even before the armorer had said it. That was two weeks ago, so why hadn't he shown his face to his child yet?

He was scared. It had been ages since another living thing had seen his face. And the last being that saw his face, IG-11, had died. It felt like a bad omen. 

Still, he was no longer a foundling, he couldn't allow superstition to rule him. So he decided to show the child his face. He decided to do it while they were in space, where there was no risk of anyone else intruding. It made the whole reveal slightly less daunting. 

He sat across from the baby, who was babbling happily and messing with a doll. Slowly, he lifted the helmet off. Of all the reactions Din imagined, he didn't anticipate the child to start wailing. 

He has never wailed before. Din had heard him laugh, babble, even whine. But he had never heard him cry out like this. The sound caused him to put his helmet back on out of instinct as he began to survey the child to figure out what was wrong. Once the helmet was back on, the baby immediately began to calm down. Din realized what had been wrong; the baby didn’t recognize his face. To him, Din had just taken off his head. 

He felt bad about the potential trauma he caused the child but figured the memory probably wouldn’t stick. For now, he needed to help the kid to figure out that both the helmet and Din’s face was his dad. It took a few minutes, but Din could tell the child was starting to grasp the concept. 

The kid grabbed at Din’s face, and he let him feel around. He gave Din a cautious look, still unsure. Din smiled at him and said, “Still me, swamp rat.” It cooed with joy, still recognizing his voice. “That’s right,” Din replied as he picked it up. “Time for bed.” 

That night, the child accepted being put into his crib with little protest. He cuddled into a blanket but tried to keep one sleepy eye on Din. Din just sat back and watched as he lost the battle against sleepiness, completely enamored. When he was fully asleep Din turned off the indoor lights. 

Din climbed into the cockpit and checked to make sure the ship was on course. Then he stopped to look out of the window. They were traveling through an empty patch of space. Only the light of distant stars were visible, flickering in the darkness. It would’ve felt lonely, if not for the swamp rat sleeping in the other room. Instead it felt private. Like the universe was entrusting him with some secret. Din fell asleep at his chair trying to figure out the secret. 

He woke up sore but surprisingly well-rested. After letting the child out of the crib, Din started to stretch. The kid copied his movements sloppily, though it was clear that it had no idea what they were doing. 

Din left his kid to fix them breakfast. As he rehydrated some rations, he was grateful that the little runt wasn’t picky. They were currently eating some sort of mystery greens he had picked up. Very nutritious for a growing kid, but awful tasting. He poured some bone broth on top to make it more bearable, then he placed it on the table for the both of them. 

Either using utensils was out of the kid’s capabilities, or he simply just didn’t want to use them. Din was betting on the former as he watched the kid use his fingers to stuff his mouth with the disgusting substance. The kid had been going through a phase where he attempted to copy everything that Din did.

Din was less enthusiastic about his meal, using a fork to slowly force down the food. He couldn’t wait until they were on another planet, where they could eat some decent tasting food. Still, he could force himself to eat the monstrosity in front of him for a little while longer. 

After breakfast, Din made himself a cup of caff. He sipped on it as he watched the kid play around with some toys. They had picked a small assortment of toys throughout their travels, mostly balls and some hand made dolls. Today the kid was levitating the balls around. When he noticed what Din was drinking he held out his hands and grabbed at the cup, a sign that he wanted to try some of what Din had. 

“Absolutely not,” Din said. He didn’t need a hyperactive baby that could move objects with his mind. The kid pouted in response, which made Din get up. “I’ll get you something else.”

He poured some water for the kid since they had recently run out of milk. Another item that was on Din’s ever-present mental shopping list. At first, the kid refused to take the water, intent on having some of Din’s caff. After Din took some sips from the water cup the kid came around.

After they were both done with their drinks Din sat the kid down and played with him. They rolled a ball back and forth to each other for a while. Then, after glancing at his helmet, Din got an idea. It was something he had seen others play with the younger foundlings, but he had never tried himself. 

He slowly placed the helmet on his head, the baby looked at him quizzically. Din popped the helmet off quickly, “Peekaboo!”

The kid smiled and cooed, which was enough for Din to repeat the action. He came to the conclusion that the kid’s happy reactions weren’t at the sudden ‘reappearance’ of his face, but rather at Din’s face itself. The kid always laughed more if Din was sticking out his tongue or making some other silly face. Whatever the reason, the kid was happy, which made Din happy. It was nice not only to have someone see his face but also to be so clearly overjoyed at the sight of it. 

They were forced to stop when the ship beeped at them, signaling that they were coming into a planet system. Din put his helmet on for the last time and grabbed the kid, “Let’s see where we’re going.”

The baby gurgled in response, seeming disappointed that Din’s helmet was back on and the game was over. Still, he couldn’t be too upset with Din holding him. 


End file.
